Diabetes Education
CommuniCare offers diabetes education that connects patients with diabetes to health care services, support, and self-management skills so they can live healthy, active lives. CommuniCare’s comprehensive health centers are staffed with a full-time Diabetes Health Educator, and a Registered Nurse offers appointments at least one day/week at each site.
Services Offered:
- One-on-one appointments with Diabetes Health Educators and the Diabetes Registered Nurse
- Group Medical Visits
- Hansen on Thursdays 1-2pm
- DCC on Fridays 1-2pm
- Salud Clinic on Fridays 1-2pm
- Cooking classes: offered once monthly at each site’s group visits (contact the team for schedule)
- Home Visits and Mobile Medicine assistance (offered to people with housing insecurity and migrant and seasonal agricultural workers living in migrant housing centers)
- Linkages to health insurance, medications, healthy food, behavioral health services and more
Resources
- Links to healthy food resources:
- Rethink your drink provides alternatives to sugary beverages like soda that will help keep you hydrated and satisfied without the added sugar. Recipes are offered in both English and Spanish for various favorite flavors: sweet, herbal, tangy, or tropical.
- Cooking Matters is a website that will help you find diabetes-friendly recipes on a budget. When you click the link, you can choose different filters like time or meal type to find a recipe that fits your needs.
- Familia Kitchen shares their Healthy & Delicioso recipes for traditional Latino dishes. These 8 different traditional recipe food flips are healthy alternatives to dishes we know and love. The Healthy & Delicioso section includes more classic and saludable recipes with traditional sabor.
- American Diabetes Association (ADA) includes great tips on starting a eating plan that breaks down the diabetes plate, nutrients, and some recipes.
- The diabetes food hub offers a great variety of healthy recipes. You can set the filter to Latin American dishes, Mexican/Southwestern, recetas en español, and much more
- Health tips for adults: weight, diet, and physical exercise, both in English & Spanish
FAQ’s for Diabetes Education
Provided in schedule under services: Group medical visits are offered weekly at each site and feature cooking classes once/monthly.
CommuniCare’s Diabetes Health Educators have completed the Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialist’s Diabetes Community Care Coordinator certificate course and CommuniCare-specific clinical training. They have strong knowledge of diabetes care and management that enables them to lead the group medical visits and one-on-one education appointments.